Floating reaper.



E. FERRISS.

FLOATING REAPBB..

APBLIGATION FILED APR.7,1909

Patented Jan. 10, 1911 ww mdmwx mum N\ xk Q .,f, Mwml @n @u E Awwllwd m v gd m N WM www .l md Emm u@ @im K f ,m n Q @hm y mmmh www m j @zal ffafagw E. FERRISS.

FLOATING REAPBB.

APPLIOATION vFILED APR. 7, woe4 Patented Jan.10,19 11. V 2 sHnnTssHEnT 2.

@Pffmmf UNT-ED STAT'S OFFICE,

EDWARD rnnmssj or rnaronnon,fNon'r'nlDimora.` I

FLOATING REAPER. i

Application tiled April "il,

Specification o f Letters-Patent. Patented Jan. 10, y1911. i

1909. serial No. 488,513.-

To all wwm it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD 'FEnRIss, citizen of the United States, residing at Napoleon, in the countyof Logan and State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in fFloating Reap' ers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to' make and use thesame. My invention has for its especial object to, provide a floating reaper adapted for use in cutting and collecting wild rice and other .grains or grasses that grow 'in the A iwater, and to this end, it consists of the novel'dev1ces and combinations of devices. hereinafter described and .defined` in the claims. i

In the accompanying drawings, which 'illustrate the invention, like characters indi` cate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the-drawings, Figure 1 :is -a plan View 'ofthe so-called floating reaper; Fig. 2 is a' side'elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the front portion o v the reaper, showing the parts thereof ona larger scale than in Figs. 1 and 2; and

4 is a plan view of the parts shbwn -in Fig.Y

3, some portlons being vbroken away;\

In accordance with my invention,suitable` cutting mechanism and a coperatin'g reel are mounted on the forward end of a snitable float, which ispreferably in the f orm of a barge or fiat bottomed beati, adapted On the'rear'; portion of this boat, an engine2, prefeabl to float in very shallow water.

of the ex losivej type, is-suitbly mounte The cran shaft of this .engine 'which is preferably extended transversely of theboat, is provided at one end with a Hy .wheel 3 and at its. other end. with asimilar `Hywheel L The y wheels 3' and 4 are preferably -made to serve the purpose fof clutch members and are.arrangedl'or-coperation, respectively, with' 4frictionalclutch members 'and 6 secured to the inner ends-of short shafts 7 and4 S'rnOunted in suitablebearings on the boat. The said clutch devices may be of the usual 'or anyother suitable construction and may be operated in the customary or in any suitable way.

At its outer'end, theshat 7 is shown as provided with. sprocket wheel 9, and the shaft 8, at its intermediate portion, is shown as provided with a bevel gear 10.- Mount- 'ed in suitable rearwardly extended beams 11 of the boat 1 is a paddle wheel' propeller l2,

rthefshaft Aof which is provided at one end .sprocket 9 a-'sprocket lchain '14 is arranged to run and thereby drive the paddle wheel from the engine.

A' sui-table sickle guiding .finger bar '15f1s boat 1 and, at' its'ends, is rigidly secured to which are i upwardly extended laterally'spacedbearings- 18 ri 'd l A sic e bar 19 is guided by and c x'pera'tesv with thetnger bar 15. The finger.bar. 15

generally used in reaper'spand harvsters,

4neeted by a short pitman 20 tothe crank -pin of a crank disk or head' I21 carriedby a mounted 'in suitable "bea'rin 23 'rigidlyfsecured, as shown, to'the'left 'and supporting/8o.

arm 16. At its rear end, the shaft-22 is p'rjoa short transverse counter shaft 26; This hand bearing 1S-fand' through thehub'of the "concentric wlth the common axesv ofthe' arings. At its inner end the shaft 26 is rovided wardly extended .counter shaft 29 lmounted counter shaft 29'is provided at vits 'rear en'd with a bevel gear 30 that meshes with the bevel gear 10fof the engine driven shaft' 8" already described..

finger: bar 15-'and sickle-bar 19, and its shaft, wluch is provided at one end with a sprocket 32, is journaled in the forwardly extendedl arms "33' of reel supported vpedestals 34 rigof the verticall movable supporting arms 16. As'shown t e, upper end po'rtions of the pedestals are urther tied' to t e arms 16 by oblique braces. 35 and the a-rms 33 are furbraces 36, as best shown in Fig. 2. The reel, it will thus be se'en, is supportedand carried wit-h a"sprocket 13, over which and the located just in front of the front end of vthe a fpair of supporting arms 16, the rear ends o plvotally connected at "17" tof" secured to the sides of 'thefbjoat 70 'andi-'Sickle bar' 19 are-.preferably .of the :type

and the said sickle bar at oneendfis con- "l5 ,short rearwardly extended counter shaft 22 vided with'a-bevelgear24 that meshes with av bevel gear 25 secured to the outer end'of counter shaft 26 extends through. the'ifeft- 85 lefthand'supportingarm 16 -and its axisis l ivot'al connectionsqbetween said" arms and@- f "eff-.roo

'with a bevel gear 27Z'that meshes 'wit a bevel gear 2 8 secured tothe 'front' end of a rear ther tied to the pedestals 34 by oblique 110 shaft 22, which by the supporting arms 1G and is adjustable with the finger bar and sickle bar, so that it maintains its proper working relation thereto under vertical adjustments of the cutting mechanism.

The sprocket chain 3?.a runs over the reel sprocket 3Q and over the sprocket 37 secured' to a short counter shaft 38 journaled in the u iper'portions of the lefthand )edestal ,34, w iieh latter is shown as provi ed with an oiiset sup )lemental bearing 39 of the said shaft, as s own in Fig.. 1. At its outer end, the shaft 38 is provided with a bevelgear 4() that meshes with a bevel gear t1 secured to the upper end of an upright counter shaft 42 mounted in suitable bearings on the lefthand pedestal 34. At its lower end, the shaft 42 is provided with a bevel gear 43 that meshes with a bevel gear 44 secured at the intermediate iortion of thejlonfr counter latter, as before described, is mounted in suitable bearings on the leftliand pivotallv mounted supporting arm 16.

The pivotallymounted supporting arms 16 and the parts carried thereby, -to-wit,"the finger bar, sickle bar, reel and driving shafts and ears to the saidreel and sickle b'ar. are vieldinglysupported or drawn 'upward preferably a pair of heavy coiled springs' 45, the rear' ends of which rirel secured to the upwardly extendedportions of thc'.- bearings 18 and to the'int'ermediate portions of the said arms 16. These springs should be strong enough to hold the said levers 16 and partscarried thereby in uplifted positions,

and the said arms are. vieldingly drawn downward and held in anydesired set positions by suitable mechanism which, shown.

comprises follows: A lever 46 secured 1 to a transverse shaft 4T mounted in suitable bearings on the sides of the boat and provided at its ends outside of the boat with depending arms 48. nected by cables or flexible connections 49 to the intermediate portions of the supporting arms 1tand are passed over suitable guide sheaves 50 mounted in the sides of the boat. Ifdesired. alatch arch or'other suitable means may be provided for securing t'lihe/Y le- These arms-18 are con' and reel should always be so .adjusted as to out olf only the heads or upper end portions of the grain. The heads of the cut grain will b v the reel be thrown backward from the cutting mechanism into the boat.

In this specification and iii the claims, the term boat is used in a broad sense to include any suitable kind of a fioating support for the harvesting mechanism.

The numeral 51 indicates a seat carried .by the boat. A suitable device in also shown for steering the boat and this, as illustrated, comprises a pair of rudder blades 52 .secured to the lower ends of short upright shafts 53 mounted in suitable bearings in the rear end of the boat and provided at their upper en'ds, above the bottom of the boat, with sheaves or pulleys 54. Just in front of the seat is an upright steering shaft 55 mounted at its lower end in a suitable bearing in the boat and rovided at its upper end with a hand whee 56. Near its lower end, the steering shaft 55 is provided with a bell crank 5T, to the arms of which the ends of la steering cable 5S are secured'. This steering cable` 58 runs over or. around the two rudder sheaves 5i and aroundv an idle guide sheave 59 suitably mounted on the boat.

As is evident, the power of the engine may be utilized to simultaneously propel the boat forward and to operate the reel and cuttinv mechanism, or the boat may be propelled ally connected to said boat, one or more.

springs yieldingljdrawing said arms upward, a connection for drawing said arms downward, and a cutting mechanism carried at the free ends of said arms, substantially ,as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. EDWARD FERRiss. llvitnesses ALICE J. SwANsoN, HARRY'D. KILGORE. 

